The Hill Group The Hill Group
 
 
   

Are Your Sales People Out To Lunch?

Jaime P. Bongiorno, Business Development Coordinator  

Have you ever pondered why picking up the phone to call a potential new or even a current client sometimes causes unexplainable anxiety and stress?  So much so that not even making the call seems like a much more attractive alternative?  There is a reason for that.  A sound, researched, proven reason.  Sales Call Reluctance® is the number one culprit as to why 80% of salespeople fail in their first year.  It is also the reason seasoned sales experts quit in the prime of their game.  

Most sales teams, regardless of size and sales experience, can be easily sorted into a few categories: A producers, B producers, C producers, and those who are ‘out to lunch.’  Companies typically invest in sales training at least once annually.  Most everyone comes away from training with the basic building blocks reinforced.  The new ideas and technologies fuel a revitalized enthusiasm and gung-ho attitude, until they sit once again alone with their best sales tool-their phone.  

Psychologists George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson researched and developed The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance®. Sales Call Reluctance® can assume twelve different shapes:  

Doomsayer    
                                                                       
  • Preoccupied with worst-case scenarios
  • Will not take social risks
  • Measures success by absence of failure
  • Highly self-controlled
  • Paralyzed by spontaneity
Over-Preparer
  • Over-analyzes, under-acts
  • Encyclopedic knowledge with no one to present it to
  • Reflective, contemplative
  • More comfortable with data than people
  • Reserved and emotionally self-restrained
Hyper-Pro
  • Over-concerned with image and credibility
  • Invests heavily in status-declarative clothes, accessories, business cards etc.
  • Preens instead of prospects
  • Needs to be seen as more than average
  • Suffers fro "big case-itis"
Stage Fright 

  •      Fears group presentations

  •    Dreads ice-breaking activities 

  •    Secretly dreads role-playing activities 

  •    Reads notes verbatim when required to speak before groups

Role Rejection  
  • Secretly ashamed of sales career
  • Fears approval loss from significant others
  • Copes with “fragile positivism”
  • Rarely feels pride in sales accomplishments
  • May rely on “deflected identities
Yielder  
  • Fears being seen as pushy, rude or intrusive
  • Hesitates to express own interests and needs
  • May be gullible, easy to persuade
  • Excels at building rapport but will not be assertive when necessary
  • Vulnerable to close reluctance
Social Self-Consciousness
  • Intimidated by up-market clientele
  • Aims for the wrong targets in prospecting situations
  • Reverts to ingratiating, childlike behaviors in the presence of wealthy, educated, powerful, or prestigious individuals
Separationist  
  • Hesitates to prospect among personal friends or ask them for referrals
  • Fears loss of approval from friends
  • Considers relying on friends emotionally off-limits
  • Wishes to keep business and friendships absolutely separate
Emotionally Unemancipated
  • Hesitates to prospect among family members or ask them for referrals
  • Fears loss of approval from relatives
  • Considers relying on family emotionally off-limits
  • Wishes to keep business and relatives absolutely separate
Referral Aversion  
  • Resists asking current clients for referrals
  • Fears jeopardizing current relationships by asking for referrals
  • Presumes clients will be offended by requests for referral names
  • Contact initiation itself may be unimpaired
Telephobia  
  • Fears using the telephone for prospecting or self-promotion
  • Needs to get “psyched” to make calls
  • May go out of way to make face-to-face calls rather than use the phone
  • Other phone usage may be unimpaired
Oppositional Reflex  
  • Distracted by emotions; fears loss of control
  • Reflexively criticizes, blames, argues, finds fault with others
  • Will not accept advice or constructive criticism
  • Has difficulty admitting to imperfections or weaknesses

A salesperson has on average 4 of these 12 types.

A costly sales training seminar may teach your team how to be more organized; how to track leads more efficiently, and improve record keeping to an art form.  If a salesperson is a consummate over-preparer, this one seminar may prove dangerous to their career.  This person just acquired additional time consuming strategies to legitimately put off picking up the phone and making new contacts.  

The ratio is fairly simple:  Assuming both salespeople close 20% of the time;  Salesperson 1 initiates 40 contacts each day, and Salesperson 2 can only initiate 5 contacts on an average day. Salesperson 1 will eventually generate 800% more business.

                           Number of calls made daily             sales closed

Salesperson 1                     40                                        8
Salesperson 2                       5                                        1  

Identifying an individual’s call reluctance can be easily determined by the SPQ*GOLD® assessment.  It will indicate if there is little or no reluctance in a category, a potential issue in a particular category, or full-blown palm-sweating terror.  

Identifying reluctances is half the battle.  Utilizing techniques based on sports psychology used by athletes, these learned behaviors can be reversed following a personal prescription calculated by the SPQ*GOLD® results.  A day-long training and follow–up can assist in permanently eliminating behaviors that took a lifetime to develop.

Many companies, including The Hill Group, Inc., have each potential new-hire take the SPQ*GOLD® assessment prior to joining the team.  Every organization should think of itself as a sales organization, so determining an individual’s potential to make contacts is critical before making the investment in a new employee. 

Having the confidence to call a potential new client, or to call an existing client as a customer-service courtesy, is absolutely crucial in business development.  It's Fear Free Prospecting® and it is detrimental to acquiring quality leads and of course, company growth.  

No one is as good as he or she can be in sales.  It is the reason there are countless books and seminars that new salespeople and seasoned pros gobble up in an effort to be better at what we were born to do.  Overcoming call reluctance is, and should be, the first step in that endeavor.  Once unburdened by the resistance to call on a large range of potential prospects, all the new sales training out there might just have an impact. 

 

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These materials have been prepared for educational and information purposes only. They are not consulting advice or opinions on any specific matters. Transmission of the information is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, a consultant-client relationship between The Hill Group, Inc. and any recipient of this material. Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional advice.